The methodological assessment report on scenarios and models of biodiversity and ecosystem services

The goal of the Intergovernmental SciencePolicy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services towards conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development. It does so, in particular, by orchestrating the production, by hundreds of scientists and other knowledge holders from all parts of the world, of scientific reports which assess the state of knowledge on a particular theme (e.g. the pollination assessment), a region (e.g. the on-going four regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services in four on-going regional assessments), or at the global level, in response to requests from decision-makers.

This Methodological Assessment of Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services was initiated in order to provide expert advice on the use of such methods in all work under IPBES to ensure the policy relevance of its deliverables. It is one of the first assessment activities of IPBES because it provides guidance for the use of scenarios and models in the regional, global and thematic assessments, as well as by the other task forces and expert groups of IPBES. Because the assessment focuses on methods, this report is more technical in nature than other thematic, regional and global assessments of IPBES. In particular, the assessment focuses on the following:
 Critical analyses of the state-of-the-art and best practices for using scenarios and models in assessments, policy design and policy implementation relevant to biodiversity and ecosystem services;
 Proposed means for addressing gaps in data, knowledge, methods and tools relating to scenarios and models;
 Recommendations for action by IPBES member States, stakeholders and the scientific community to implement and encourage those best practices in regard to the use of scenarios and models, engage in capacity-building and mobilize indigenous and local knowledge.

The Methodological Assessment Report on Scenarios and Models of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services was prepared in accordance with decision IPBES-2/5 on the IPBES work programme. The Multidisciplinary Expert Panel along with the Bureau prepared an initial scoping document for the assessment (IPBES/2/17, annex VI), which served as a basis for the second session of the IPBES Plenary (Antalya, 2013) to approve the undertaking of the assessment. This assessment report has been developed in accordance with the procedures for the preparation of Platform deliverables (annex I to decision IPBES-3/3). Governments and stakeholders nominated experts for the author team. The final author team consisted of two Co-chairs, 15 Coordinating Lead Authors, 51 Lead Authors and 12 Review Editors. In addition, during the development of the assessment report, authors selected an additional 21 Contributing Authors to help strengthen various parts of individual chapters. The assessment report underwent an internal review, followed by one formal external review by experts and by a second external formal review, which also included the draft Summary for Policymakers (SPM), by governments and experts. Revisions were made after each review in close collaboration with Review Editors who ensured that all comments were fully considered. The Scenarios and Models team received approximately 2360 comments from 194 expert reviewers (combined from the First Order Draft review and the Second Order Draft review) from 45 countries. The IPBES Plenary approved the SPM, and accepted the individual chapters of the assessment, at its fourth session in Kuala Lumpur, 22-28 February, 2016.